The present disclosure relates to laminate assemblies for forming images on various objects, such as three dimensional (3D) surfaces or other surfaces.
Traditionally, water or hydrographic transfers to non-planar or 3D surfaces have included a construction having a water-dissolvable carrier film on which conventional inks and coatings are printed. The carrier film may be a cast polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) of sufficient thickness to serve as a carrier in subsequent printing processes. The inks printed on the carrier may be solvent based and applied via printing methods such as gravure, but could also be printed using gravure, flexography, lithography, screen printing, thermal transfer printing, ink jet printing, or other short-run printing techniques.
The inks may be printed with a variety of patterns and may also decorate multiple objects at the same time in the water-transfer process downstream of printing the inks onto the carrier film. Many decorated items are post-finished, such as by over-coating the items with clear polymer coatings on top of the decorated surfaces of the items to protect the decorations. This subsequent process can be accomplished with a spray application of the clear coat (e.g., spray painting).
But, the final products formed using the aforementioned transfer processes often are interior applications, as the pigments in the inks and the coatings employed are not suitable for exterior or harsh service environments.